The Thoughtful Gift Finder app from Notonthehighstreet.com
I like Notonthehighstreet.com for no other reason than they have a lovely website. There’s always something I’d like to buy and if I’m ever stuck for a birthday gift it’s a great place to get me out of a hole with some suitable inspiration. Some of the best “Where did you find that” presents I’ve ever given have been purchased through Notonthehighstreet.com.
Today they’ve announced the launch of their first mobile app in created for them by Grapple. It’s the UK’s first personalised gift finder mobile app and not only that it’ll do it’s best to make sure that you never forget a birthday. Anyone who knows me will know I’m not the best at remembering dates so an app to jog my memory is perfect.
The Thoughtful Gift Finder app makes use of Facebook Connect to instantly create a calendar of friends’ and family’s birthdays and occasions, sending timely reminders to order gifts. Events not on Facebook can be manually entered into the app’s calendar.
More importantly the gift selector uses personality traits, including arts, food, travel and sport, to generate ideal gift suggestions. Gifts from the online marketplace’s array of products can even be ‘tagged’ to friends and events to ensure great gift ideas are never forgotten and can be purchased later.
Once the perfect gift has been selected, it can be purchased directly from the app. Where available, customers can customise and personalise products, for example by adding gift wrapping and even engraving.
With the IMRG predicting that 41% of smartphone owners will make a purchase on mobile this Christmas, the notonthehighstreet.com app comes at just the right time of year. It’s available to download for iPhone today from the Apple App store.
Saying “We are proud to launch the notonthehighstreet.com Thoughtful Gift Finder app” Holly Tucker, notonthehighstreet.com co-founder adds “Mobile traffic has increased over the past 12 months and now represents almost a quarter of all visitors to notonthehighstreet.com”.
Everyone I speak to that sees figures for mobile traffic to marketplaces is saying that mobile traffic is up. Sadly the app is only currently available for the iPhone, but I’ll be downloading it as soon as it’s available on Android. Have fun playing with it if you’re an iPhone user… and my birthday is the 17th January if you’d like to add it to the app calendar!
Darren says
11:15 am on 31/10/2012
The High Street has gone now Chris!!
Chris Dawson says
11:24 am on October 31st, 2012
Oh I dunno… I had to go to the bank to get a new PINsentry reader today as mine broke… would be embarrassing to explain to HMRC I couldn’t get into my bank account because the high street wasn’t there any more.
Mind you, not a lot else in Thatcham town centre to interest me, certainly not as much as on Notonthehighstreet.com
John Pemberton says
3:36 pm on October 31st, 2012
Hey Chris, you went into Thatcham – what a quaint and high brow Berkshire town
These card readers are a nightmare. I went into Lloyds to get a new one, and they dont hold any in branch. I have to order them on the phone, and was quoted upto 14 days delivery. I now have 3
mw says
4:26 pm on 31/10/2012
We tried, last year, after receiving a recommendation, to sell craft making beads on their website. They rejected our application to sell these goods which we have sold 12,000 plus packets of on ebay in the last year or so. We are not the cheapest on ebay and we believe the range of beads on offer are of a suitable quality for crafters to make quality cash inexpensive (time and imagination invested) gifts from and should have fitted nicely in notonthehighstreet’s marketplace – etsy lets us sell them quite nicely.
We found Notonthehighstreet a bit elitist and somewhat snobby in their responses. Eventually, after trading emails for a bit to try and get some common ground, we decided that if we were not good enough to sell on their website, then, their website was not good enough for us to buy from. We have never been back to look at them. In the end their elitism cost us, them and their customers business. Impressions count and the impression these left can be summarised in a four letter word.
Chris Dawson says
10:14 pm on October 31st, 2012
I have to be honest here and suggest that perhaps your products aren’t quite what they’re looking for.
You say your products are for crafters to make gifts from. I’d humbly suggest that Notonthehighstreet.com really want the gifts, not the components to make them from.
I’ve had a look on the site and the only set of beads I can find are a beautifully presented set of alphabet beads. I don’t know if your sets are presented similarly?
Shilpi Roy Virtual Assistant says
6:31 am on 01/11/2012
Wow this is awesome! I too have a memory which refuses to remember the special occasions-birthdays and anniversaries. This app is apt for my mobile but unfortunately I am not using an iPhone so will have to wait patiently and grab it once introduced on Android.
mw says
1:43 pm on 01/11/2012
Hi Chris,
Maybe you are right, but 12,000+ customers don’t agree and have cast their vote by buying again and again.
We don’t sell the types of sets you re-direct to – mainly because of the choking risks associated with selling these types of products aimed directly at 4 to 8 year old children, presumably they should be used under adult supervision, however, the chosen seller makes no indication of this. Maybe noyonthehighstreet should review some of their listings for safety compliances and ensure it’s added to the listing – no doubt the seller has full compliance with all necessary legal requirements to sell this product – they could do with saying so and maybe they would sell more of them (friendly advice nothing more).
Ours are more grown-ups orientated and we indicate that in our listings on ebay, etsy and our own website together with a much more detailed photograph.
The notonthehighstreet site is significantly better presented than ebay or Amazon and more user friendly than either of those two. The issue for us, is the shortsighted, snobbish, elitism of the management and staff in the way they handled our application. No doubt other sellers rejected in the same way, feel the same, but don’t want to say anything.
I enjoy your site Chris. Please keep up the work.